WEBVTT NOTE This transcript was created on 2026-06-07 at 21:48:25 1 00:00:03.660 --> 00:00:06.360 Maximal power. 2 00:00:12.419 --> 00:00:15.720 Welcome back to Maximum Power, the Blake 7 podcast. 3 00:00:15.779 --> 00:00:19.739 This week, we're looking in hope of deliverance. 4 00:00:19.800 --> 00:00:23.579 Episode 12 of series A of Blake 7. 5 00:00:23.640 --> 00:00:24.600 I'm Cy. 6 00:00:24.660 --> 00:00:27.359 I'm James I'm Mark and I'm Pete. 7 00:00:27.420 --> 00:00:33.840 So, we're here at episode 12 of Terry Nation's 1st series run of the show. 8 00:00:33.899 --> 00:00:37.920 James, do you think he's beginning to run out of steam? 9 00:00:37.979 --> 00:00:41.700 I think I began to run out of steam in episode 3 or four. 10 00:00:44.640 --> 00:00:57.659 I think, yeah, like the only thing that's really saved this show from falling flat is the fact that they had a brilliant script editor pulling it all together. 11 00:00:57.719 --> 00:01:07.560 And as the show goes further and further in, Now we've discussed this over the last few weeks, it gets more and more Chris Boucher, and that can only be a good thing, in my opinion. 12 00:01:07.620 --> 00:01:13.260 Yeah, there's real feel here that the dialogue is taking a step up suddenly. 13 00:01:13.319 --> 00:01:27.540 I think Chris Boucher has a very good eye on the characters all the way through the series and here he's really giving the dialogue a good brush up to make it extra snappy and really, really interesting. 14 00:01:27.599 --> 00:01:36.239 Are we saying that he's sort of arrived like a sort of saviour for Blake 7 and has turned it into something that we all need to go down on one knee and worship? 15 00:01:36.299 --> 00:01:38.040 That would be thematic. 16 00:01:38.099 --> 00:01:40.620 He really delivered on the script. 17 00:01:40.680 --> 00:01:46.379 So, Mark, coming into this episode, you're a new watcher of Blake 7. 18 00:01:46.439 --> 00:01:52.980 How do you think the series has held up up to this and what are your faults on where Terry Nation has got to here? 19 00:01:53.040 --> 00:01:56.640 Yeah, I feel like he is running out of ideas massively. 20 00:01:56.700 --> 00:02:00.060 It's obviously the 2nd story in a raw weather liberator's been hijacked. 21 00:02:00.120 --> 00:02:08.099 Last time I was home, we talked about whether Callie turning against the crew in the web was too similar to Gan turning against him in breakdown, and I said it. 22 00:02:08.159 --> 00:02:09.479 No, no, it wasn't, it was different enough. 23 00:02:09.539 --> 00:02:16.620 But now it's just like all the crew who weren't hijacked last week, I can just see you watching this and going, oh, come on. 24 00:02:17.460 --> 00:02:23.400 It's like they get to take turns at who was on location and who stays behind and gets hijacked. 25 00:02:23.460 --> 00:02:30.360 So, yeah, I think if they'd even mentioned that, maybe if the last episode had finished them saying, oh, I can't believe you got hijacked. 26 00:02:30.360 --> 00:02:36.719 And then, um, you know, if Blake and Kelly got back and so I can't believe you let that happen, you know, you need to be a bit tighter on security around here. 27 00:02:36.719 --> 00:02:38.759 And then everything happened this week. 28 00:02:38.819 --> 00:02:40.080 But nobody even mentions it. 29 00:02:40.139 --> 00:02:43.560 What did we say in our post-episode meeting last time, guys? 30 00:02:43.620 --> 00:02:45.539 Yeah, hijacked. 31 00:02:47.340 --> 00:03:03.120 The cast who do get to go on location gets a kind of a base under siege type story to use of Doctor Who parlance, you know, whether it's like, the savages or federation troops or whatever tend to be sort of after them are trying to get into where they are when they're on the ground. 32 00:03:03.180 --> 00:03:08.939 And I think the kind of the, for me, the promise of the 1st few episodes, it's not really lived up to that. 33 00:03:09.000 --> 00:03:14.159 The things that really interested me early on was that kind of really dystopian earth, which they haven't been back to. 34 00:03:14.219 --> 00:03:19.740 I thought Blake's memory being erased was going to be a bigger deal, but it's just sort of quietly come back. 35 00:03:19.800 --> 00:03:21.180 Yeah, they forgot about that. 36 00:03:22.080 --> 00:03:29.639 And then just the ongoing mystery of the Liberator's origins is interesting to me, but it hasn't been addressed for a few episodes either. 37 00:03:29.699 --> 00:03:39.599 But I really like Servoland and Travis, and I love that Travis's failures in previous episodes, have consequences, so that's sort of changed their dynamic here and stuff. 38 00:03:39.659 --> 00:03:41.280 So I am I am interested in them. 39 00:03:41.340 --> 00:03:46.919 I can see why all the gifts that I've ever seen on Twitter of Blake 7 have been Servoland and not Blake. 40 00:03:47.280 --> 00:03:57.479 Which has always made me think she was like one of the main characters, if not the main character, but she's only been like 3 or 4 episodes so far, but he's by far one of the most interesting characters in it, I think. 41 00:03:57.539 --> 00:04:07.439 Yeah, it's very interesting, I think, in this episode to see how the Travis and Surferland situation and relationship has changed over the course of the season. 42 00:04:07.500 --> 00:04:14.580 So we basically got a reprise here of the 1st scene between Travis and Servoland. 43 00:04:14.580 --> 00:04:16.199 And in Cyclocate Destroyer. 44 00:04:16.259 --> 00:04:19.379 You've got Travis coming in and he's full of gusto. 45 00:04:19.439 --> 00:04:21.959 He's not taking any of her nonsense. 46 00:04:22.019 --> 00:04:23.579 He just wants to go and get the job done. 47 00:04:23.639 --> 00:04:25.980 And then here, it's like the reverse. 48 00:04:26.040 --> 00:04:28.980 Servoland is now completely and utterly in control. 49 00:04:29.040 --> 00:04:38.040 She's got Travis sort of waiting for her to finish and he's just stood there subservient to all of that. 50 00:04:38.100 --> 00:04:43.500 Yeah, and I think I think I have a, I may be coming in with a warmer appreciation of this episode than some. 51 00:04:43.560 --> 00:04:45.420 It is largely because of that. 52 00:04:45.480 --> 00:04:49.139 The 1st little scene with Servolan at the beginning where we're like, what is she? 53 00:04:49.259 --> 00:04:49.920 she up to this time? 54 00:04:50.040 --> 00:04:51.240 Because we haven't seen that much of her yet. 55 00:04:51.300 --> 00:04:53.399 This is still very early days for her character. 56 00:04:53.459 --> 00:04:58.620 And we see that she's clearly plotting something and not really in the federation's interests. 57 00:04:58.680 --> 00:05:00.120 Whatever she's doing is in her own interest. 58 00:05:00.180 --> 00:05:02.819 Oh, and it begins with her counselling a conference as well. 59 00:05:02.879 --> 00:05:05.819 If you want to establish that someone is really, really evil. 60 00:05:05.879 --> 00:05:07.920 Don't just have them massacring bad extras. 61 00:05:07.980 --> 00:05:13.860 Have them being told that loads of people have come to your space station for a conference and you're just cancelling it because you can't be bothered. 62 00:05:13.920 --> 00:05:15.000 Youve got something else to do instead. 63 00:05:15.000 --> 00:05:17.579 Because I think that's... 64 00:05:17.639 --> 00:05:21.600 That is the true sign of a dictatorial maniac. 65 00:05:21.660 --> 00:05:28.500 And that big scene that suddenly comes that comes along in the middle, which really is, it's the 1st scene of the next episode in a way, isn't it? 66 00:05:28.560 --> 00:05:30.899 But it does give the events of this episode more impetus. 67 00:05:30.959 --> 00:05:36.720 Having that amazing long scene, where server, like you said, she's just toying with Travis, isn't she? 68 00:05:36.839 --> 00:05:38.459 And she can just have him shot. 69 00:05:38.519 --> 00:05:44.339 It's not, she's got a function for him, but she wants him to go into that function completely humiliated by her. 70 00:05:44.399 --> 00:05:48.660 So he knows who's boss, although he still gets top billing ahead of her in the end credits. 71 00:05:48.720 --> 00:05:50.699 That's the 70s for you. 72 00:05:50.819 --> 00:05:52.319 Maybe that's why they replaced him. 73 00:05:53.639 --> 00:05:59.579 But it's just a wonderful line where Travis just realises what she's like. 74 00:05:59.639 --> 00:06:10.319 She's busy lounging on the sofa with a drink and completely and utterly calm and cool, and he just turns around and says, you're almost as ruthless as I am. 75 00:06:10.379 --> 00:06:20.220 And I think that gives us sort of our 1st clear glimpse of what's to come in the show where she's going to really up her appearances and up her gain. 76 00:06:20.279 --> 00:06:23.279 And she said, she responds, you underestimate me. 77 00:06:23.339 --> 00:06:30.600 I wonder if she'd chosen the surgeon for the mission or space surgeon, sorry, because it was the, it was the guy that had saved Travis. 78 00:06:30.660 --> 00:06:32.279 So it was like something else over him. 79 00:06:32.339 --> 00:06:47.100 Yeah, that felt very much like that, that that was a calculated decision on her part to get one over on Travis and see how he would react to that and then she could judge where he is in her allegiances to her maybe. 80 00:06:47.160 --> 00:06:49.199 Yeah, that was a really, really evil touch. 81 00:06:49.319 --> 00:06:51.720 Yeah, and all delivered from a sofa. 82 00:06:51.779 --> 00:06:52.259 It's just. 83 00:06:52.920 --> 00:07:09.180 It also shows... how single-minded he is as well in his pursuit of Blake because there's that interchange between them where, you know, like they talk about how he'll be labelled as a deserter and then his family will go into exile. 84 00:07:09.240 --> 00:07:10.920 She's like, is that a problem? 85 00:07:10.980 --> 00:07:13.800 And he says, no, only Blake matters. 86 00:07:13.860 --> 00:07:17.279 It's like, whoa, you know, like this person who saved your life. 87 00:07:17.339 --> 00:07:19.259 Their family is going to exile. 88 00:07:19.319 --> 00:07:20.100 You don't care. 89 00:07:20.160 --> 00:07:24.540 You don't give a shit because all that matters is capturing Blake. 90 00:07:24.600 --> 00:07:40.259 And this is Travis, the mass murdering butcher, who previously was shamed for being so brutal and destroying everything, and here he is now, so obsessed with Blake that he's prepared to be completely humiliated by Serverland or to, and there's this. 91 00:07:40.439 --> 00:07:53.459 I think there's a real parallel that I don't think's accidental about these dominatrics power games being played between her and him and then we cut back to the planet and we have Avon finding out what it's like to have absolute power over somebody later on. 92 00:07:53.519 --> 00:07:56.939 I think I think those 2 things are set up to sort of to reflect each other maybe. 93 00:07:57.000 --> 00:08:00.899 Can you believe that that's when they did the video release of this? 94 00:08:00.959 --> 00:08:04.139 I think they did, was it this and Aurac? 95 00:08:04.199 --> 00:08:04.560 Yeah. 96 00:08:04.620 --> 00:08:09.120 They cut the Travis and Serverland scene from this, as if it was padding. 97 00:08:09.180 --> 00:08:12.120 When I think it's like, it's the mainly the main point of the episode. 98 00:08:12.240 --> 00:08:19.740 You could really just cut most of deliverance that's not the stuff about Orac in a compilation video. 99 00:08:19.800 --> 00:08:26.279 Good, but then we would lose some of the most amazing reverted to primitive action we've ever got. 100 00:08:26.579 --> 00:08:32.700 But if, if, you know, if you're calling the compilation video Aurac, you don't really need. 101 00:08:33.000 --> 00:08:34.860 Yeah, no, get your point, yeah. 102 00:08:34.919 --> 00:08:39.600 I actually really like this episode, but it's been around the best... 103 00:08:40.919 --> 00:08:46.259 Yeah, so let's talk about the action down on the planet. 104 00:08:46.320 --> 00:08:49.500 We're very much inter nation land, aren't we here? 105 00:08:49.559 --> 00:08:55.379 So we've got a planet that's reverted to primitivism after big war. 106 00:08:55.440 --> 00:09:13.019 We've got a planet that's full of radiation, and we've got a very snowy quarry, which I'd say really looks fantastic, and we've got our 1st glimpse in the show of the brilliant extra Pat Gorman as well as chief primitive. 107 00:09:13.139 --> 00:09:14.220 It doesn't even get a name. 108 00:09:14.279 --> 00:09:15.600 Yeah, okay. 109 00:09:15.659 --> 00:09:16.620 I go, I don't know. 110 00:09:16.679 --> 00:09:19.500 This is Betchworth quarry, isn't it? 111 00:09:19.559 --> 00:09:20.759 It is, yeah. 112 00:09:20.820 --> 00:09:22.740 David Maloney's favourite quarry. 113 00:09:22.799 --> 00:09:26.820 So there's a sign that says that as you approach it, I hope. 114 00:09:26.879 --> 00:09:30.779 Like Genesis and Deadly Assassin. 115 00:09:30.840 --> 00:09:31.320 Yes. 116 00:09:31.379 --> 00:09:31.799 Yes. 117 00:09:31.860 --> 00:09:32.940 It doesn't exist anymore. 118 00:09:33.000 --> 00:09:33.659 It's been filled. 119 00:09:33.720 --> 00:09:34.559 It has. 120 00:09:34.620 --> 00:09:35.580 It's a country park now. 121 00:09:35.639 --> 00:09:43.919 It's interesting because we also have David Maloney behind the cameras on the location chute, because for some reason, Michael Lee Bryant wasn't available. 122 00:09:43.980 --> 00:09:49.559 So David Maloney steps in and directs all those scenes down on the planet, Cephlon. 123 00:09:49.620 --> 00:09:51.779 He brings quite an urgency to them all. 124 00:09:51.840 --> 00:10:01.200 It's all quite dramatic and it feels quite pacy down there, despite, it's a lot of them wandering around trying to find the bullets and then escape from the primitives. 125 00:10:01.259 --> 00:10:03.120 But I really like all that stuff. 126 00:10:03.179 --> 00:10:04.200 What do you think, Mark? 127 00:10:04.259 --> 00:10:05.820 Yeah, I think it looks great. 128 00:10:05.879 --> 00:10:08.940 And those escape pods look really cool as well. 129 00:10:09.000 --> 00:10:16.320 I like the way when they find the figure lying outside of it, who's fell out, that's a really good shot because you can see it in the disk. 130 00:10:16.379 --> 00:10:26.580 Yeah, like you say, it's very terry nation in terms of radiation and mutations and things and all the space stuff, the space administrators, space surgeons, space command, all that kind of stuff. 131 00:10:26.639 --> 00:10:28.259 Very nearly a poem, Mark. 132 00:10:28.379 --> 00:10:30.240 There's a lot of rhymes in that. 133 00:10:30.299 --> 00:10:31.320 That was really good. 134 00:10:32.159 --> 00:10:37.919 Yeah, no female savages are noticed, so they've not got that long left, have they? 135 00:10:38.279 --> 00:10:44.340 Well, do they have an arrangement with a wafty lady who we meet later? 136 00:10:44.700 --> 00:10:47.460 So there's a line, isn't there? 137 00:10:47.519 --> 00:10:55.379 Getting to me get where she talks about the, you know, they're only being maybe a 100 of her people left. 138 00:10:55.500 --> 00:10:56.820 Where are they? 139 00:10:57.840 --> 00:11:03.240 It seems to very much be behind that door in the rock face on her own. 140 00:11:03.299 --> 00:11:06.179 There's no evidence that there's anyone else there. 141 00:11:06.240 --> 00:11:06.720 Like a city. 142 00:11:06.840 --> 00:11:08.100 It's just her and a rocket. 143 00:11:08.220 --> 00:11:09.240 How long has she waited? 144 00:11:09.299 --> 00:11:12.360 Was she a child when she was left behind? 145 00:11:12.419 --> 00:11:15.059 Is she the next generation of people coming up? 146 00:11:15.120 --> 00:11:20.639 Well, there's a line in there where she is, you know, she's descended from the keeper. 147 00:11:20.700 --> 00:11:28.740 You know, like, you know, she's the guardian and she's descended from various other people who have overlooked it for generations. 148 00:11:28.799 --> 00:11:31.500 It's a blinking you, you can miss it kind of. 149 00:11:31.620 --> 00:11:33.059 Yeah, she has sort of chosen one deal. 150 00:11:33.179 --> 00:11:33.720 Yeah. 151 00:11:33.720 --> 00:11:37.799 Oh, yeah, she was set up by Kachelle the Wise, wasn't she? 152 00:11:37.860 --> 00:11:44.879 Or people were set up by Kachelle the Wise to sit and wait for someone to come and say the word and launch the ships off. 153 00:11:44.940 --> 00:11:47.039 Yeah, but that's right. how? 154 00:11:47.100 --> 00:11:49.620 Yeah, and a different hint of beneath the planet of the apes. 155 00:11:49.679 --> 00:11:54.179 I immediately thought of when they found the rocket underground, which turned out not to be like an accent beneath the planet of the apes. 156 00:11:54.240 --> 00:11:55.259 Spoilers, well. 157 00:11:55.320 --> 00:11:56.700 It's a different type of rocket, but that way. 158 00:11:56.759 --> 00:11:58.919 Yeah, these are quality science fiction tropes. 159 00:11:58.980 --> 00:12:02.340 And you know, we're being harsh on Terry Nation saying he's just recycling his material. 160 00:12:02.399 --> 00:12:06.240 We could say, this is him reaching the pinnacle of Terry Nation trophies. 161 00:12:06.299 --> 00:12:13.559 He's been refining this all these years to sort of give us what is a very like definitive terry nation-y episode. 162 00:12:13.679 --> 00:12:14.940 I agree with James, though. 163 00:12:15.000 --> 00:12:28.980 And probably it's budget true restraints, but we could have done with seeing more of the civilisation that she came from because they say, if you missed that line about 100 of her people being left, you would think that she just sits in that room, gets doled up every single day in case the person arrives. 164 00:12:29.039 --> 00:12:33.419 But obviously that's just kind of her day job and then she goes back to whatever civilisation. 165 00:12:34.620 --> 00:12:38.399 Yeah, maybe they have shifts and it's like, oh, come on my shift. 166 00:12:38.460 --> 00:12:40.620 Oh, God, I've got me careless. 167 00:12:41.340 --> 00:12:45.419 Like, you do get the impression it's just her and the Shibogans, don't you? 168 00:12:45.480 --> 00:12:48.120 Yeah, very much so. 169 00:12:48.179 --> 00:13:07.500 I think Migat is a wonderful character, and I think she's beautifully played by Susan Farmer, who's just got enough wide-eyed innocence about her to make the part really, really good, and she looks so great in her floaty netting dress, just sat there all serene, and worshipping Paul Darrow. 170 00:13:10.559 --> 00:13:12.419 He certainly would. 171 00:13:12.480 --> 00:13:14.639 They're really playful with it together, aren't they? 172 00:13:14.700 --> 00:13:28.139 There's the exactly the rapport that's needed for those scenes to work for him to be being arch and raising an eyebrow about how silly it kind of is, but also absolutely loving it, but also finding it tiresome and it really clicks, I think. 173 00:13:28.200 --> 00:13:37.019 Yeah, and there's some wonderful lines about it both from him and from Villa, that makes 2 people who think you're wonderful, says Villa. 174 00:13:37.080 --> 00:13:37.620 Yes. 175 00:13:37.620 --> 00:13:45.720 And then Avon gets the bit later on where he says, well, now, you are hardly the stuff that gods are made of, which is just brilliant. 176 00:13:45.840 --> 00:13:48.480 And you are, I suppose, apparently. 177 00:13:48.600 --> 00:13:53.340 I thought the line was really interesting when Villa says you're enjoying this, aren't you? 178 00:13:53.399 --> 00:13:59.519 And not sure whether he meant being worshipped or sort of the attentions of an attractive woman. 179 00:13:59.519 --> 00:14:05.039 And he just says, probably, and it really reminded me of Tom Baker in City of Death, saying, you're a beautiful woman, probably. 180 00:14:05.100 --> 00:14:07.139 Yes, of course. 181 00:14:07.799 --> 00:14:14.820 Yeah, very a completely different way of being very cryptic and fascinating with the same word. 182 00:14:14.940 --> 00:14:22.919 But there's lovely tenderness, Avon shows towards them, which he doesn't always show towards women, particularly as we've seen earlier in this series. 183 00:14:22.919 --> 00:14:27.960 And it creates a really quite tender relationship between the 2 of them. 184 00:14:28.019 --> 00:14:33.179 He's quite respectful of her belief in him, which is quite interesting to see, I think. 185 00:14:33.240 --> 00:14:35.399 Yeah, he doesn't mock her, does he? 186 00:14:35.460 --> 00:14:39.840 But he doesn't, I mean, well, he's humourous about the scenario, but he doesn't deride her. 187 00:14:39.899 --> 00:14:40.740 That sort of, yeah. 188 00:14:40.799 --> 00:14:44.580 There's one moment of it where she starts worshipping himself. 189 00:14:44.639 --> 00:14:46.500 He says, oh, let's not start that again. 190 00:14:46.559 --> 00:14:51.600 And then he sees how much he's upset her and then kind of softens. 191 00:14:51.659 --> 00:14:55.980 It's actually, it's quite sweet. because he just holds a hand as well. 192 00:14:56.039 --> 00:15:01.259 It doesn't draw a lot of attention to it, but in the control room scenes, they're holding hands. 193 00:15:01.320 --> 00:15:03.059 Yeah, I haven't spotted that. 194 00:15:03.120 --> 00:15:15.659 It feels like there's a scene missing, though, where they say goodbye, because you would imagine that she would want him to stay, or that he might even invite her along onto the Liberator, because they're nice to have somebody around that worships it. 195 00:15:15.720 --> 00:15:21.299 It just cuts quite abruptly from that little self-deprecating line about, oh, you waited so long just for me. 196 00:15:21.360 --> 00:15:24.539 And then they're back on the ship and I half expected it to be there with them. 197 00:15:24.600 --> 00:15:29.460 She's potentially just been left on her own, on this planet now, surrounded by the savages. 198 00:15:29.519 --> 00:15:30.539 Oh well, that's my job done. 199 00:15:30.600 --> 00:15:33.840 Yeah, like the rocket's gone. have people are dying off. 200 00:15:33.899 --> 00:15:44.039 They're probably going to, not going to finish that sense, that's horrible, but, you know, they may, they may have been killed by the savages because they know where the door is now. 201 00:15:44.039 --> 00:15:50.340 And so, like, they're under, they're under him, kind of imminent threat. her and her invisible people. 202 00:15:50.399 --> 00:15:53.940 It's not it's not a nice place to be left in. 203 00:15:54.000 --> 00:15:59.279 No, even if they'd set up reinforced the defences or something that made it clear that these 100 people would be okay. 204 00:15:59.340 --> 00:16:00.779 Yeah, just a line. 205 00:16:00.779 --> 00:16:03.779 It does seem like, yeah, maybe something got forgotten. 206 00:16:03.840 --> 00:16:04.919 Like Jenna? 207 00:16:04.980 --> 00:16:06.059 Like Jenna. 208 00:16:06.179 --> 00:16:08.039 Well, yes. 209 00:16:08.100 --> 00:16:09.659 Here we are. 210 00:16:09.720 --> 00:16:10.200 Not again. 211 00:16:10.259 --> 00:16:12.779 We're back on the ship Off we go. 212 00:16:12.840 --> 00:16:15.539 And then Gan says, oh, she was right behind me. 213 00:16:15.600 --> 00:16:16.740 No, she wasn't. 214 00:16:16.799 --> 00:16:17.399 You're lying. 215 00:16:17.460 --> 00:16:18.899 Is that a trope? 216 00:16:19.019 --> 00:16:19.919 think it might be. 217 00:16:19.980 --> 00:16:22.259 It's very much a Blake 7 trope now, I think. 218 00:16:22.379 --> 00:16:27.960 But at least they noticed that she's not there. pretty quickly this time. 219 00:16:28.019 --> 00:16:30.299 So they're learning, but slowly. 220 00:16:30.360 --> 00:16:36.779 They don't spend like a couple of hours sitting around drinking so much and then go, oh shit, where's Callie? 221 00:16:38.100 --> 00:16:48.000 But it does lead to a great bit from Blake, where Avon says, we'll go down again and Blake, quiet and full of menace, just says, I think you better. 222 00:16:48.120 --> 00:16:54.899 Yeah, it's like the one time I let you be in charge because I was busy doing filming for a different episode and what happens? 223 00:16:55.559 --> 00:16:57.899 I don't know if that's a fact. 224 00:16:57.960 --> 00:17:02.100 I was just a hunch I've got because because there weren't Blake and Jenna. 225 00:17:02.159 --> 00:17:04.380 I think Blake and Jenna were much more involved last week. 226 00:17:04.440 --> 00:17:07.799 So maybe so maybe there was a bit of a juggle there. 227 00:17:08.880 --> 00:17:12.240 Yeah, they're the ones who went down to the planet last time. 228 00:17:12.299 --> 00:17:16.500 It's like we can be filming in 2 separate quarries at the same time or something. 229 00:17:16.559 --> 00:17:20.759 Well, Callie gets put on nursing duty again, like she did in breakdown. 230 00:17:20.819 --> 00:17:24.359 It's just immediately assumed that female crew member is going to adopt that book. 231 00:17:24.480 --> 00:17:26.519 Yeah, she's just pleased to have something to do. 232 00:17:27.119 --> 00:17:32.759 But if nothing else, Jenna looks beautiful in all the location filming on this episode. 233 00:17:32.819 --> 00:17:39.059 There's something about the furry hood of her thermal suit and working with the with her space anorak as well. 234 00:17:39.119 --> 00:17:40.380 Yeah, she looks great. 235 00:17:40.440 --> 00:17:41.519 She does. 236 00:17:41.579 --> 00:17:44.220 And although she's not got a lot to do in this episode. 237 00:17:44.279 --> 00:17:52.859 At least, you know, when we see her captured, she's trying to escape, and then she bungs a rock at him and is thwarted, so she doesn't sit there waiting to be rescued, which at least is good. 238 00:17:52.920 --> 00:17:53.700 No. 239 00:17:53.759 --> 00:17:57.900 And we get Avon Silver Parker as well, which I just love. 240 00:17:57.900 --> 00:17:59.640 And mob one at those. 241 00:17:59.819 --> 00:18:02.400 That's why he got mistaken for a god. 242 00:18:02.460 --> 00:18:03.539 It's understandable really. 243 00:18:03.599 --> 00:18:06.900 Yeah, he ditches his space anorak very, very good. 244 00:18:09.900 --> 00:18:14.880 A film seems to be enjoying this episode. a lot. 245 00:18:14.940 --> 00:18:18.960 And certainly more than Blake has seemed to enjoy episodes recently. 246 00:18:18.960 --> 00:18:28.319 And I mean, you can read too much into it, but that's not entirely a 1000000 miles away from Paul Darrow and Karen Thomas's perspectives on the show, is it? 247 00:18:28.319 --> 00:18:33.720 Because I think that he was already wanting to leave at this and they were like, no, two-year contract. 248 00:18:33.779 --> 00:18:34.500 You're not going anywhere. 249 00:18:34.559 --> 00:18:35.279 It's a huge success. 250 00:18:35.339 --> 00:18:37.799 Whereas Paul Darrow was like, give me more. 251 00:18:37.859 --> 00:18:39.000 Let me get my teeth into it. 252 00:18:39.059 --> 00:18:41.400 And that seems to be Avon's approach to being on this mission too. 253 00:18:41.460 --> 00:18:44.819 Although he's the reluctant rebel or at least the reluctant comrade. 254 00:18:44.880 --> 00:18:48.660 He just, yeah, he basically likes being the boss, doesn't he? 255 00:18:48.720 --> 00:18:50.819 But then he's got when they have to beam down again to look for Jenna. 256 00:18:50.880 --> 00:18:55.140 There's a great shot of him on the teleport pad and he really looks like, oh shit, I forgot this up. 257 00:18:55.200 --> 00:18:56.700 I'm never going to live this down. 258 00:18:56.759 --> 00:18:59.099 That's the expression on his face as they beam down. 259 00:18:59.160 --> 00:19:03.299 So do you think it's a case of Paul Darrow very much seizing any material? 260 00:19:03.359 --> 00:19:13.680 Because for the last few episodes, really, he's been quite sidelined as a character, he hasn't had a great deal to do, and here he is centre stage really in this episode. 261 00:19:13.740 --> 00:19:17.460 He's the lead character, I think, for this one, isn't he? 262 00:19:17.519 --> 00:19:21.900 You can see him relishing everything from the running around the action. 263 00:19:21.960 --> 00:19:25.980 He gets some really good action shots beating up the primitives, for instance. 264 00:19:26.039 --> 00:19:31.259 I think there's a sense of him thinking, I can see how this would work if I was in charge. 265 00:19:31.319 --> 00:19:42.599 Yeah, can suppose where his characters come from from the beginning of the series where he wouldn't really do anything unless there was something in it for him, whereas there's not really any discussion about whether he's going to go down and they're going to look for these survivors. 266 00:19:42.779 --> 00:19:44.640 He just does it, doesn't he? 267 00:19:44.700 --> 00:19:50.220 And then undertakes to rescue Jenna and then to help launch the deliverance rocket. 268 00:19:50.220 --> 00:19:52.980 He's kind of getting more into this lifestyle now, isn't he? 269 00:19:53.039 --> 00:19:55.440 and less interested in financial gain. 270 00:19:55.500 --> 00:19:56.700 It seems like in this episode anyway. 271 00:19:56.759 --> 00:20:03.599 Because it was only a couple of episodes ago, wasn't it, that he was very much considering ditching them all, although we don't know for certain whether he was double bluffing. 272 00:20:03.660 --> 00:20:07.200 But at this point, this doesn't look like a guy who's with these people through sufferance. 273 00:20:10.799 --> 00:20:17.339 The other big part of this plot is the mysterious Aurak. 274 00:20:17.400 --> 00:20:27.119 We've got Ensor Jr. coming back from the Federation with an offer of 1000000 credits for this amazing thing called Aurak. 275 00:20:27.180 --> 00:20:30.420 What do we think of Ensor Jr. and Tony Corner? 276 00:20:30.480 --> 00:20:35.039 He goes on to become a borderline national treasure by marrying Pat Butcher in EastEnders, doesn't he? 277 00:20:35.099 --> 00:20:40.680 He doesn't get to do as many exposition coma dialogue copyright fights or entirety. 278 00:20:42.059 --> 00:20:46.019 Must give ambiguous clue. 279 00:20:46.079 --> 00:20:49.380 It's one of those great moments And he does it. 280 00:20:49.500 --> 00:20:52.440 And it's really nice how the bit when he takes Cali hostage. 281 00:20:52.500 --> 00:20:55.740 Oh, there's always one particularly graceful moment for her. 282 00:20:55.799 --> 00:21:10.619 But he plays it, really believably of someone who does not want to be doing that, but is desperate, and there's a nice dynamic between him and Blake, because that's the kind of thing that Blake always faces, how nasty can I be in order to ensure that the greater good is achieved? 283 00:21:10.680 --> 00:21:17.579 And now Blake's faced with someone who's doing exactly that on the on the deck of his own ship. 100000000 credit sounds like a lot, doesn't it? 284 00:21:17.640 --> 00:21:19.740 But we don't really know what the credit is. 285 00:21:19.799 --> 00:21:22.799 Yeah, what's the credit to pound exchange rate? 286 00:21:22.859 --> 00:21:27.720 Yeah. sandwich costs, for example, in... 287 00:21:27.720 --> 00:21:30.359 Well, there's no sandwich. just a protein pill. 288 00:21:30.539 --> 00:21:33.720 It's a bit of a doctor evil moment, isn't it? 289 00:21:33.779 --> 00:21:37.200 It's like a 1000000 credits? 290 00:21:37.259 --> 00:21:38.460 1000000 credit. 291 00:21:38.519 --> 00:21:40.680 A 1000000000 dollars. 292 00:21:41.039 --> 00:21:45.359 There's several moments where Servolan says to Travis. 293 00:21:45.420 --> 00:21:47.460 I need to get Blake and Orak. 294 00:21:47.579 --> 00:21:54.059 And I was just thinking, if I didn't know what Orak was, what I think she was saying, I need to get Blake, Andor. 295 00:21:54.119 --> 00:21:54.839 Yeah. 296 00:21:54.900 --> 00:21:56.279 Who's rat? 297 00:21:56.279 --> 00:21:58.440 I was overthinking it at that point. 298 00:21:58.440 --> 00:21:59.759 Or possibly underthinking. 299 00:22:00.000 --> 00:22:02.519 I don't know what Aurac is. 300 00:22:02.579 --> 00:22:04.559 Well, spoilers. 301 00:22:04.559 --> 00:22:06.359 To find out. 302 00:22:06.359 --> 00:22:07.319 In next week. 303 00:22:07.319 --> 00:22:09.599 All right. 304 00:22:12.299 --> 00:22:14.519 Does what it says on the tin. 305 00:22:15.539 --> 00:22:17.759 Or perhaps bots. 306 00:22:18.240 --> 00:22:24.299 But yeah, they're obviously selling this as something big that's going to change everything. 307 00:22:24.359 --> 00:22:28.619 And basically, it's just a weird name at this point. 308 00:22:28.680 --> 00:22:42.299 But yeah, I really like Ensor and doing anything for his for his dad and the micro power cells that hum every time you open the box, getting rid of a bit more power each time. 309 00:22:42.359 --> 00:22:44.279 So they're going to be useless by the time they get there. 310 00:22:44.339 --> 00:22:50.700 They're open every 5 minutes just to remind us that they're power cells. 311 00:22:50.700 --> 00:22:55.980 Micro power cells in a pack larger than a lunchbox. 312 00:22:56.700 --> 00:22:58.619 And et cetera. 313 00:22:58.680 --> 00:23:04.859 There's a great moment where Callie is tending him with his with her complete lack of nursing skills, but she's got her helpful telepathy skills. 314 00:23:04.920 --> 00:23:12.299 So when he's writhing and screaming in pain, she turns to Blake and goes, he's in a great deal of pain. just like to go. 315 00:23:12.359 --> 00:23:14.220 No shit, mind reader. 316 00:23:14.279 --> 00:23:15.299 But he did not. 317 00:23:15.359 --> 00:23:20.039 She could have freaked him out though during the season, didn't she, with putting some messages. 318 00:23:20.160 --> 00:23:21.000 Yeah, that's a good point. 319 00:23:21.059 --> 00:23:21.420 Yeah. 320 00:23:21.480 --> 00:23:23.400 It's more conscient speaking. 321 00:23:24.359 --> 00:23:26.279 Put the gun down. 322 00:23:26.339 --> 00:23:28.619 Yeah, let the nice lady go. 323 00:23:28.680 --> 00:23:33.180 I don't know if she can do other voices, you know, the way you can, can you do that with celebrity? 324 00:23:33.480 --> 00:23:36.299 It's underexplored, folks. 325 00:23:36.299 --> 00:23:56.519 But she has got the most wonderful little scene of sitting there with her headphones on when, yeah, Blake and Blake sat there looking bored with his head in his hands and Callie's got her headphones and face mask on, grooving away to her space jazz while waiting for a call to rush to the teleport to beam them back up again. 326 00:23:56.579 --> 00:24:00.359 That prop has been shared round the whole cast by now. 327 00:24:00.420 --> 00:24:08.400 So we've seen it in episode one when the guard in the way back has got it and then Serverland's had it, hasn't she? 328 00:24:08.460 --> 00:24:09.599 And now he's got it. 329 00:24:09.660 --> 00:24:12.119 They've all got their own space Spotify accounts, haven't they? 330 00:24:16.019 --> 00:24:22.079 I bet the aurons get in trouble for sharing their login details and telepathically sharing music with each other. 331 00:24:22.140 --> 00:24:23.519 They probably get banned from Spotify. 332 00:24:24.299 --> 00:24:27.119 Telepathic copyright infringement. 333 00:24:27.839 --> 00:24:33.660 At least they were waiting in the teleport room, though, because it normally seems a lot of these have his potluck, isn't it? 334 00:24:33.720 --> 00:24:37.799 If people are in trouble on the plants, whether anybody's here can call for help. 335 00:24:37.859 --> 00:24:38.400 Yeah. 336 00:24:38.460 --> 00:24:42.059 We've transported down into a dangerous situation. 337 00:24:42.119 --> 00:24:43.319 What are you gonna do now? 338 00:24:43.380 --> 00:24:45.180 Oh, I think I might get the toilet. 339 00:24:45.480 --> 00:24:47.400 Do my hair. 340 00:24:47.579 --> 00:24:50.220 Read a book on the flight deck. 341 00:24:50.279 --> 00:24:52.740 Yeah, I'm going to go sit in the space parlour. 342 00:24:52.799 --> 00:24:55.440 That's a room we haven't seen yet, but that's where I like to go and read. 343 00:24:55.799 --> 00:25:02.940 And I look, whenever someone's on the bridge and a communicator call comes through, it's always on that control deck that's on the other side of the bridge. 344 00:25:03.000 --> 00:25:08.039 So someone has to excitedly run across the bridge and leap on it and press the button just to answer the phone basically. 345 00:25:08.099 --> 00:25:15.480 In this episode, it just sometimes the way that it's shot just makes me notice again, what a big set that bridge really is. 346 00:25:15.539 --> 00:25:17.099 That's a big bit of studio. 347 00:25:17.160 --> 00:25:19.559 A gorgeously impractical set. 348 00:25:20.460 --> 00:25:29.759 But yeah, at this point, we still don't know whether the people who built it were actually octopuses or something. just they just have a strange ponchant for human-sized furniture. 349 00:25:29.880 --> 00:25:33.839 Mystical arms, so they could reach one buttons that are on the side. 350 00:25:35.339 --> 00:25:40.079 Maybe had they had 7 bodies. 45 hands. 351 00:25:41.220 --> 00:25:44.099 I fear we may be overselling this. 352 00:25:48.720 --> 00:25:58.859 So we do get our other top Blake 7 trope, don't we, of the liberator being forced to be out of orbit when they need to teleport back up in an emergency. 353 00:25:59.160 --> 00:26:01.799 This is a good standby to make the plot a bit more urgent. 354 00:26:01.859 --> 00:26:07.380 It's like those days when you didn't have mobile phones and you had to arrange to meet someone at a time at a place. 355 00:26:07.440 --> 00:26:10.740 And if they weren't there, you would just, I didn't know, maybe they're dead. 356 00:26:10.799 --> 00:26:11.700 Maybe they're just 10 minutes late. 357 00:26:11.759 --> 00:26:12.480 You just didn't know. 358 00:26:12.599 --> 00:26:14.579 The ending scene of this. 359 00:26:14.640 --> 00:26:15.420 Well, I don't know. 360 00:26:15.480 --> 00:26:17.700 It's good and then weird at the same time, you know what I mean? 361 00:26:17.759 --> 00:26:20.339 You just get that final end shot. 362 00:26:20.400 --> 00:26:25.680 After the fantastic conversation between Blake and Avon about, you know, how did it, have you ever been a god? 363 00:26:25.740 --> 00:26:26.339 How did it feel? 364 00:26:26.400 --> 00:26:29.279 And, uh, oh, no, hang on. 365 00:26:29.339 --> 00:26:31.259 I did my blake quote in my Avon voice. 366 00:26:31.259 --> 00:26:33.059 That was my Avon voice, believe it or not. 367 00:26:33.180 --> 00:26:35.039 Blake saying, how did it feel? 368 00:26:35.039 --> 00:26:36.299 and I'm going, don't you know? 369 00:26:36.359 --> 00:26:43.140 And Blake cutting back with yes, each one of those is a nice twisty riposte on what you might have expected them to say. 370 00:26:43.200 --> 00:26:47.460 And then it just ends with with Abel sort of meandering off in the background out of shots. 371 00:26:47.460 --> 00:26:51.000 And I'm saying, now let's try and save Ensor's life. 372 00:26:51.059 --> 00:26:53.579 And Jenny goes, okay, speed, standard by 6. 373 00:26:53.759 --> 00:26:56.160 Crash into end credits. 374 00:26:56.220 --> 00:27:00.539 Slashing my things. could go into 3rd gear, Jenna. 375 00:27:00.599 --> 00:27:05.339 You've got to rescue this, this bloke's waiting to be rescued in this all powerful something or other. 376 00:27:06.240 --> 00:27:10.019 Does Blake mean that the rest of the crew treat him like a god? 377 00:27:10.079 --> 00:27:12.240 Because everyone on earth thinks it's a paedophile, don't they? 378 00:27:12.359 --> 00:27:14.579 Well, people do have very black and white opinions, don't they? 379 00:27:14.700 --> 00:27:16.619 It's like 11 thing or the other. 380 00:27:16.680 --> 00:27:22.920 I think he means from back in the day before all those allegations came out and were faked about him. 381 00:27:22.980 --> 00:27:31.319 So I took it, and this was only my 1st reaction, was just taking it as him referring back to the old days when he was seen as the superhero of the resistance. 382 00:27:31.380 --> 00:27:35.099 But yeah, I hadn't thought of that, that it could just mean that it could just mean the crew too, couldn't it? 383 00:27:35.160 --> 00:27:43.980 yeah I took it as Blake thinking about the legends that are building up and the myths building up around him already that have been mentioned in Project Avalon. 384 00:27:44.039 --> 00:27:49.859 So maybe he's sort of aware of how he's becoming a figurehead to the repressed masses of the federation. 385 00:27:50.460 --> 00:27:51.900 That's how I interpreted it too. 386 00:27:51.960 --> 00:27:52.859 You know, that works. 387 00:27:52.920 --> 00:27:53.339 I get it. 388 00:27:53.460 --> 00:27:53.640 Yeah. 389 00:27:53.700 --> 00:27:58.740 But again, it's sort of open to interpretation and Blake's almost coy. 390 00:27:58.799 --> 00:28:02.160 I don't like the responsibility either is quite interesting. 391 00:28:02.220 --> 00:28:06.000 It's a not quite the reaction you'd expect from Blake. 392 00:28:06.059 --> 00:28:13.859 Yeah, yeah. when they 1st beam down, when Avon leads the away party, and he just immediately says, like, Jenna, you take Gan. 393 00:28:13.920 --> 00:28:18.960 Find the rock, find a door or something, but they go off and they find the door in the rock, he doesn't say that to him. 394 00:28:19.019 --> 00:28:19.980 That's what they didn't do. 395 00:28:20.039 --> 00:28:23.279 But, um, but it's like there's no picking of tea. there's no picking of teams. 396 00:28:23.339 --> 00:28:25.259 He's not going to say, Jenno, who do you want? 397 00:28:25.319 --> 00:28:26.519 He's like, I'm not having Gan. 398 00:28:26.579 --> 00:28:27.660 Jenna, you take gas. 399 00:28:27.720 --> 00:28:32.220 And at 1st and I laughed at that as a, oh, poor gan, he's the one who always gets picked last. 400 00:28:32.279 --> 00:28:43.200 But then, actually, in this, in this episode, Gan gets quite, it's quite, it turns out to be one of his most active episodes apart from the one where he was the centre of attention, but unconscious through most of it, a couple of weeks ago. 401 00:28:43.259 --> 00:28:47.400 Maybe he was taking revenge by leaving Jenna behind. 402 00:28:47.519 --> 00:28:49.740 You all treat me like shit. 403 00:28:49.799 --> 00:28:51.180 I'm just going to leave her behind. 404 00:28:51.779 --> 00:28:55.380 Yeah, this starts to look like a conspiracy. 405 00:28:55.440 --> 00:28:58.019 And I don't think he's really got a limiter anyway. 406 00:28:58.140 --> 00:29:06.119 I don't know what that's all about because he's like, there's a, it's just an excuse to be able to hit people sometimes and to be able to get out of having to fight at other times. 407 00:29:06.180 --> 00:29:07.799 Oh, sorry, I would join him. 408 00:29:07.859 --> 00:29:08.519 I've got a limiter. 409 00:29:08.579 --> 00:29:10.259 He says this week, doesn't he? 410 00:29:10.380 --> 00:29:14.579 There's a really quick line where he specifies that the limiter stops him from being able to kill. 411 00:29:14.640 --> 00:29:20.519 So then you can go and have the, has the big fight with all of the wild Britons outside of the Roman civilisation. 412 00:29:20.579 --> 00:29:23.400 Because he gets well into that fight, doesn't he? 413 00:29:23.519 --> 00:29:24.420 He does, yeah. 414 00:29:24.480 --> 00:29:25.920 There's a point, isn't there? 415 00:29:25.980 --> 00:29:28.859 Where there are 3 or 4 of them all surrounding him. 416 00:29:28.859 --> 00:29:33.299 And then his arms just sort of whack out and he's whacked 2 of them away from him. 417 00:29:33.359 --> 00:29:35.640 Yeah, he's back into back into agro mode. 418 00:29:35.700 --> 00:29:36.299 Definitely. 419 00:29:36.359 --> 00:29:37.859 No sign of a migraine today. 420 00:29:38.339 --> 00:29:40.799 No, but they fixed him now, haven't they? 421 00:29:40.859 --> 00:29:41.940 Oh, that's true. 422 00:29:42.000 --> 00:29:42.660 That's true, yeah. 423 00:29:43.380 --> 00:29:58.319 But there's also a nice couple of moments between Gan and Villa that are quite sort of warm and sort of friendly, particularly always like the minute where Gan says, oh, I was beginning to enjoy myself out there. and Billa, turns around and says, you're almost as mad as I am, aren't you, Billa? 424 00:29:58.859 --> 00:29:59.400 No, he doesn't. 425 00:29:59.519 --> 00:30:01.920 He says, you're almost as mad as me, Gat. 426 00:30:01.980 --> 00:30:03.000 Oh, yes. 427 00:30:04.079 --> 00:30:06.900 It's Andorak again, isn't it? 428 00:30:06.960 --> 00:30:08.640 Yeah, it's me again. 429 00:30:08.700 --> 00:30:09.720 Yeah, yeah. 430 00:30:09.779 --> 00:30:14.400 Like, no, I, because I, my entire life until watching it tonight in preparation. 431 00:30:14.460 --> 00:30:19.559 I had thought, he said, you're almost as mad as me, Gan, but he actually says me, Gan. 432 00:30:19.619 --> 00:30:21.480 I was like, ooh, bitch. 433 00:30:23.039 --> 00:30:24.900 Wow, right. 434 00:30:24.960 --> 00:30:29.880 Yeah, wonderful lied when they get into the bunker. 435 00:30:29.880 --> 00:30:33.059 And Gan's like, oh, she seems to be on our side. 436 00:30:33.539 --> 00:30:37.019 And Villa says, yes, but the woman's mad. 437 00:30:39.599 --> 00:30:42.180 Clearly, clearly. 438 00:30:42.420 --> 00:30:56.640 I thought the line was interesting when they, when they, uh, they're going to beam the injured man up and they talk about teleport stress, um, because, I know, Pete, you've mentioned this on a previous one I was on about the, how alarming it must look to other people, things to be teleported. 439 00:30:56.700 --> 00:30:58.619 Because they never mentioned that before. 440 00:30:58.680 --> 00:31:04.140 They, that might sound like it's, it's painful or something, but Julian Glover thought it was all right, didn't he? 441 00:31:04.200 --> 00:31:06.420 Yeah, maybe well, maybe he got a bit of a thrill from it. 442 00:31:06.480 --> 00:31:08.579 Yeah, to figure out. 443 00:31:08.640 --> 00:31:10.200 Yeah, with different people, it faced him. 444 00:31:10.259 --> 00:31:16.259 But yeah, that was an interesting little element of extra peril to just drop in there, wasn't it? 445 00:31:16.319 --> 00:31:16.500 Yeah. 446 00:31:16.559 --> 00:31:26.279 Yeah, and I think it's something that they refer to, again, in the series sort of later on that if you're really badly injured, you can't teleport because you're going to get sort of even worse. 447 00:31:26.279 --> 00:31:37.859 And we've never had that, so far as I know, wiser ones can correct me, but I don't think there's ever a Blake's 7 episode about teleportomists, perhaps someone coming back with 2 heads or something, that Star Trek staple. 448 00:31:37.920 --> 00:31:41.700 Is it almost like they actually don't correct me because it might be a spoiler. 449 00:31:41.759 --> 00:31:46.440 So what's up ahead, but so far as I know, it's as if they've put, oh, let's not do that. 450 00:31:46.500 --> 00:31:47.460 They always do that on Star Trek. 451 00:31:47.519 --> 00:31:50.160 Yeah, I don't think that storyline they go for. 452 00:31:50.220 --> 00:31:52.740 Yeah, yeah, it's just a door, isn't it? 453 00:31:52.799 --> 00:31:57.059 It's never used as the mechanics of it aren't over in the centre of a story in that way. 454 00:31:57.119 --> 00:32:00.299 Just having access to being able to get at it is always the plot thing. 455 00:32:00.359 --> 00:32:01.140 Yeah. 456 00:32:01.200 --> 00:32:03.480 Is then there one, but we won't talk about that. 457 00:32:03.539 --> 00:32:04.680 Oh, okay. 458 00:32:04.740 --> 00:32:05.940 Well, look forward to that, there is. 459 00:32:06.000 --> 00:32:07.440 I might be misremembering. 460 00:32:07.500 --> 00:32:16.200 We get the 1st of one of my favourite things that I always associate from Blake 7 from when I 1st saw it of a mysterious door in a rock face. 461 00:32:16.259 --> 00:32:18.900 We get lots of those coming up as well. 462 00:32:18.960 --> 00:32:20.519 And I think this is our 1st one. 463 00:32:21.720 --> 00:32:26.579 I was channelling that a minute ago when I said that Avon told them to go and find a door in the wrong face. 464 00:32:26.640 --> 00:32:32.400 I didn't even know that that was going to be a thing, but clearly the vibes are already going out of it. 465 00:32:32.400 --> 00:32:37.259 Roy from EastEnders, Ensor, was in colony in space as well, wasn't he? 466 00:32:37.319 --> 00:32:41.460 Which had a very nice bit of rock in a cliff face in a quarry action. 467 00:32:41.519 --> 00:32:42.779 Enlightenment. 468 00:32:42.839 --> 00:32:44.519 And the Crusade. 469 00:32:44.640 --> 00:32:46.740 Oh, yes, of course. 470 00:32:47.700 --> 00:32:49.619 He's very ours. 471 00:32:49.680 --> 00:32:50.400 Very hours. 472 00:32:50.460 --> 00:32:56.759 Sadly, I don't get to see more of his very pretty friend who is in the introductory sequence. 473 00:32:56.819 --> 00:32:58.440 Marriott, wasn't it? 474 00:32:58.500 --> 00:32:59.339 I wonder what hotel. 475 00:32:59.400 --> 00:33:03.720 I wonder what Hotel Terry Nation was staying at on a place while he was watching this episode. 476 00:33:03.779 --> 00:33:09.299 Oh, if I just change a couple of the letters. yeah Make it more spicy. 477 00:33:09.359 --> 00:33:10.259 Space marriage. 478 00:33:10.319 --> 00:33:14.099 No, but he's very cute, but also but also the act but also good. 479 00:33:14.160 --> 00:33:29.579 Yeah, he's in only in a short bit of it, and the 2 of them have some very nice exposition, and, you know, lines like, we've enjoyed 30 odd years of independence, uh, of, of very info dumpy, but they managed to make it sound like the chat of 2 people stuck in a catch altogether. 480 00:33:29.640 --> 00:33:44.160 Yeah, I, I really like the fact that he's just bored by Ensor's explanation of the race that failed to primitivism and he's just there for, uh, just sort of almost be in there, rolling his eyes, thinking, Oh God, when are we getting to Aristo? 481 00:33:44.759 --> 00:33:47.759 Oh, God, it's a terry nation planet. 482 00:33:47.819 --> 00:33:49.799 That's a strange thing though, right? 483 00:33:49.859 --> 00:33:53.700 Because he's not allowed to know where they're going. 484 00:33:53.759 --> 00:33:55.920 But Servolan already knows. 485 00:33:56.039 --> 00:33:57.779 Yeah, yeah. 486 00:33:58.259 --> 00:34:00.180 Why, yeah, why does she know? 487 00:34:00.240 --> 00:34:02.940 But the person she sent not know. 488 00:34:03.000 --> 00:34:03.779 What's the point of that? 489 00:34:04.140 --> 00:34:13.980 Her 1st scene gave me the impression that this was going to be a story about us finding out how it was that Servoland knew about this and had arranged for all this and all of that. 490 00:34:14.039 --> 00:34:18.539 And what we sort of do in the sense that, you know, it all moves forwards, but the story itself wasn't. 491 00:34:18.599 --> 00:34:20.760 And then they go and find out what serverland's up to. 492 00:34:20.820 --> 00:34:23.460 That's obviously paving the way. 493 00:34:23.519 --> 00:34:27.840 Yeah, it does feel like a bit of poor writing that she knows where they are. 494 00:34:27.900 --> 00:34:35.699 So why doesn't she go in a faster ship and just get there 1st and kill Ensor and steal Aurak, whatever it is? 495 00:34:35.760 --> 00:34:39.300 Because she obviously has an idea of where they're going to be going. 496 00:34:39.360 --> 00:34:42.360 So, yeah, it doesn't quite come off, does it? 497 00:34:42.420 --> 00:34:46.500 Unless the thing that I hadn't thought of until you guys mentioned it. 498 00:34:46.559 --> 00:34:55.920 The, um, that this is, uh, the hop, could the whole thing be, uh, Servilon saying it up as the test for Travis. of having his surgeon killed, 2 birds with one stone. 499 00:34:55.980 --> 00:35:00.960 She both wants to deal with the risk of Aurak being sold before she gets it. 500 00:35:01.019 --> 00:35:10.619 And at the same time, put Travis through this excruciating test to ensure that his whatever morality or he had is now completely malleable to her needs. 501 00:35:10.679 --> 00:35:16.860 I think also maybe it's a case of she just really enjoys kind of, evil plan. 502 00:35:19.139 --> 00:35:27.539 You could, like, go through the proper channels and negotiate with this person, get approval to get the 100000000 credit. 503 00:35:27.599 --> 00:35:30.900 You could just go straight ahead and invade the planet. 504 00:35:30.960 --> 00:35:43.019 No, let the little old man slowly die in pain and then you'll come later on and pick things up after he's died horribly. 505 00:35:43.079 --> 00:35:45.480 That's a very servilan plan. 506 00:35:46.079 --> 00:35:55.679 Yeah, and also there's a feeling of her grabbing whatever she can to secure her position and grasp more power. 507 00:35:55.739 --> 00:35:58.679 So she obviously thinks Aurak is going to be a key to this. 508 00:35:58.800 --> 00:36:01.619 Yeah, she is not there for the glory of the Federation, is she? 509 00:36:01.679 --> 00:36:04.139 She is there for the glory. 510 00:36:04.199 --> 00:36:05.400 She is the glory of the Federation. 511 00:36:05.460 --> 00:36:06.599 Yes. 512 00:36:06.719 --> 00:36:15.900 They could have put a lion in to say that when the ship came to pick Mario up, they checked the flight recorder or something, they hacked into the flight recorder and they found out where it had come from, couldn't they? 513 00:36:15.960 --> 00:36:18.000 But yeah, as it stands, it doesn't seem to make sense. 514 00:36:18.059 --> 00:36:28.199 It's the speed and lack of time and resources that went into this 1st series really starting to show. 515 00:36:28.320 --> 00:36:29.219 I think. 516 00:36:29.280 --> 00:36:44.219 It's like there are plot holes, left, right, and centre, because nation was delivering half scripts or like the 1st draft of a script and letting Boucher rewrite them and there's nothing bad about that. 517 00:36:44.280 --> 00:36:46.139 Like, I said this last week. 518 00:36:46.199 --> 00:36:49.800 The more Boucher there is in Blake 7 episode, the better. 519 00:36:49.860 --> 00:37:03.239 But because of the troubled genesis of this show and the lack of resources, the fact that it being made on the budget of Zed cars, it does really start to show in the tightness of the scripts. 520 00:37:03.300 --> 00:37:06.000 And the logic of the plot. 521 00:37:06.059 --> 00:37:10.139 It does feel very much like draft one and this will do. 522 00:37:10.199 --> 00:37:11.760 We can make this. 523 00:37:11.820 --> 00:37:12.539 That's fine. 524 00:37:12.599 --> 00:37:14.880 No one's going to think about it too hard. 525 00:37:14.880 --> 00:37:16.440 It's going to be on once and that's it. 526 00:37:16.500 --> 00:37:18.599 The fools, the man. 527 00:37:18.900 --> 00:37:21.000 We're never going to let go. 528 00:37:21.059 --> 00:37:23.340 We're never gonna stop watching it and enjoying it. 529 00:37:23.400 --> 00:37:24.119 Yeah. 530 00:37:24.179 --> 00:37:34.139 And I mean, give it, you know, this is this is the 12th episode of a 13 episode series that's come out of literally come out of nowhere and made this huge impression and become this huge rating of success. 531 00:37:34.260 --> 00:37:50.280 The episode 12 has this much steam still to it, is a huge compliment, I think, still to the crew making it, because you would think there was the risk that they would just be doing episodes of them sitting around talking by this point in one on their one large set. 532 00:37:50.400 --> 00:37:53.159 Wait, since all next year. joker. 533 00:37:53.880 --> 00:38:00.119 But I mean, brilliantly, they're reusing the big full ship that they built for Time Squad. 534 00:38:00.179 --> 00:38:07.440 So they're using it again, but that also makes it feel like this is a consistent universe, that this is a kind of ship that they would be using. 535 00:38:07.500 --> 00:38:13.860 So it's sort of using your very expensive props from earlier on, again, in an interesting way. 536 00:38:13.920 --> 00:38:27.059 Yeah, and there's a nice bit, really nice bit of camera work in that very 1st shot of it as the camera sort of goes around an angle and then you get a nice little bit of 3D camera movement as the camera sort of pivots as it zooms in. 537 00:38:27.119 --> 00:38:31.920 It's just makes it all a little bit more real. 538 00:38:31.980 --> 00:38:39.420 Yeah, and considering that's a fairly complex shop because you've got to, you've got the CSO backgrounds of space behind them as well. 539 00:38:39.480 --> 00:38:40.800 That worked quite effectively. 540 00:38:40.860 --> 00:38:46.019 It's, again, Michael Lee Bryant being brilliant with very limited resources in the studio. 541 00:38:46.079 --> 00:38:51.300 His studio scenes are always seemed to be a cut above everyone else's throughout the season. 542 00:38:51.360 --> 00:38:56.820 It made me think that little spaceship's a little bit better than Liberator as well because it's got Windows on the Liberator. 543 00:38:56.880 --> 00:38:59.639 Whenever Zen craps out, they just can't see anything, can they? 544 00:38:59.699 --> 00:39:00.480 They could bump into anything. 545 00:39:00.780 --> 00:39:03.179 It's a window. 546 00:39:03.179 --> 00:39:05.760 It's not exactly where they're going. 547 00:39:05.820 --> 00:39:07.440 It's a great scene. 548 00:39:07.500 --> 00:39:09.480 I think it's in, is it in breakdown? 549 00:39:09.539 --> 00:39:18.719 where he refuses to fly through the spatial anomaly and turns off the main screen and they're like, oh, what will we do? 550 00:39:18.780 --> 00:39:21.300 And then they go, turn on the TV in the corner. 551 00:39:24.360 --> 00:39:28.800 Yeah, it's amazing how many different screens there are in the liberator. 552 00:39:28.860 --> 00:39:41.340 I thought the graphics were a little bit better in this episode on the little screen on Serverland's desk and some of the other things, the um, of the, the ship spiralling in the, the atmosphere of Cephlon. 553 00:39:41.400 --> 00:39:44.280 A lot of the graphics are just sort of lights, aren't they? 554 00:39:44.340 --> 00:39:46.679 One light moving across the screen after another. 555 00:39:46.739 --> 00:39:48.659 But they just looked a bit more detailed in this one. 556 00:39:48.719 --> 00:39:50.699 Yeah, and there's a great shot, isn't there? 557 00:39:50.760 --> 00:40:01.619 Where you see the 2 of life capsules eject sort of on the graphical display and then see them tumbling down to the planet as well. where you've got the 3 pursuit chips and things. 558 00:40:01.619 --> 00:40:04.860 They lack that amount of definition, I think, don't they? 559 00:40:04.920 --> 00:40:12.900 Yeah, and I wonder if that's just the affects people getting more skilled and developing literally learning new tricks as they go along to make it make it better. 560 00:40:12.960 --> 00:40:19.380 There's a couple of nice model shots again, as well, of the ship exploding, which looks really, really good. 561 00:40:19.440 --> 00:40:25.559 And the 2 escape pods tumbling down into the atmosphere of the planet, which look really good. 562 00:40:26.039 --> 00:40:30.179 And you're supposed to land, according to Jenna, without a scratch. 563 00:40:30.239 --> 00:40:35.039 Well, one of the guys was already dead and the other guy didn't close the latch properly. 564 00:40:35.099 --> 00:40:36.119 Oh, that'll be it. 565 00:40:36.179 --> 00:40:36.900 Yeah, that'll be it. 566 00:40:37.320 --> 00:40:43.019 Enso has one of my personal sci-fi tropes in my head, which happens a lot in various sci-fi things. 567 00:40:43.079 --> 00:40:45.119 When he finally meets his end at the end. 568 00:40:45.179 --> 00:40:51.659 It's like he's there doing a little bit, one bit more exposition, and then he just goes, and then Blake just immediately goes, he's dead. 569 00:40:51.719 --> 00:40:54.480 It's like, he was speaking 2 seconds ago. 570 00:40:54.539 --> 00:40:57.840 You cannot seriously have checked all his vital life size. 571 00:40:57.900 --> 00:41:01.619 It's exactly, the Solurian Doctor Who and the Silurians is one of my favourite moments of that. 572 00:41:01.679 --> 00:41:03.119 The guy comes running up to Liz Shaw. 573 00:41:03.179 --> 00:41:04.500 I've got the playing. 574 00:41:04.559 --> 00:41:09.000 It's a terrible, and he falls down, and she just immediately, he hasn't stopped moving, and she goes, he's dead. 575 00:41:09.059 --> 00:41:10.139 It's like no point. 576 00:41:10.199 --> 00:41:11.639 Come on, move on, move on with the plot. 577 00:41:14.579 --> 00:41:20.280 Must complete last life. 578 00:41:22.320 --> 00:41:26.760 He's giving us a masterclass there in how this works. 579 00:41:31.019 --> 00:41:33.659 How do you all feel about this episode? 580 00:41:33.719 --> 00:41:36.420 This is one I'm just really fond of. 581 00:41:36.480 --> 00:41:37.980 It's nothing brilliant. 582 00:41:38.039 --> 00:41:39.539 It's not outstanding. 583 00:41:39.599 --> 00:41:41.940 But I just really like it. 584 00:41:42.000 --> 00:41:43.380 What do you think, Mark? 585 00:41:43.500 --> 00:41:47.639 I like, yeah, like you say, a lot of the designer really like in the direction's really good. 586 00:41:47.699 --> 00:41:52.800 I like that it's part, it feels like more part of an ongoing narrative than some of the more standalone ones. 587 00:41:52.860 --> 00:42:03.659 So bringing back Servolan and Travis and seeing that they've actually had character development for Millie in the series, I really like, and obviously setting up the season finale as well. 588 00:42:03.719 --> 00:42:09.000 So there's ongoing elements that you're going to keep you watching to tune in next week and find out what Aurak is. 589 00:42:09.059 --> 00:42:15.480 It's like they've started the A plot from next week in the B plot of this week. 590 00:42:15.539 --> 00:42:17.340 Yeah, which works really well. 591 00:42:17.400 --> 00:42:27.599 Yeah, and it's strange they weren't going to call it part one and part two. although generally it's seen that way, because tall intents and purposes, it is. it overlap that much. 592 00:42:27.659 --> 00:42:30.119 But they still they still kept it separate. 593 00:42:30.179 --> 00:42:32.099 But I wonder to what extent viewers at the time. 594 00:42:32.159 --> 00:42:35.400 We're getting used to the idea that you got, oh, right, it's going to carry on next week. 595 00:42:35.460 --> 00:42:40.079 I thought this was just going to be a, you know, monster of the week, baddy of the week, rebels of the week episode. 596 00:42:40.139 --> 00:42:44.099 The teacher showing us that Blake 7 doesn't, doesn't only do that. 597 00:42:44.159 --> 00:42:45.719 It is a developing narrative. 598 00:42:45.780 --> 00:42:48.000 Because the 3 parts were like that, weren't they? 599 00:42:48.059 --> 00:42:49.739 I like that about it. 600 00:42:49.800 --> 00:42:50.880 Yeah, yeah. 601 00:42:50.940 --> 00:42:52.260 Yeah, it started in my head. 602 00:42:52.320 --> 00:42:55.079 I always think of those as one movie When we were all younger. 603 00:42:55.199 --> 00:43:09.239 The like the 1st VHS copy you got of this was the season premiere was all sort of mashed together in one long video with 4 different episodes on it, which were trimmed down. 604 00:43:09.300 --> 00:43:16.139 So this one was released, wasn't it, as Aurac, with deliverance, Aurac, and Redemption, altogether, as 11 long story. 605 00:43:16.199 --> 00:43:18.960 Yeah, yeah, it flows really naturally that way, doesn't it? 606 00:43:19.019 --> 00:43:25.260 The 2 episodes were repeated in a feature-length edited version at Christmas this year. 607 00:43:25.320 --> 00:43:34.980 So Deliverance and Aurac were put together as 11 episode by the BBC and then shown before series 2 Sorry, series B arrives on BBC One. 608 00:43:35.039 --> 00:43:35.940 Season B? 609 00:43:36.000 --> 00:43:36.719 No, sorry, no. 610 00:43:36.780 --> 00:43:37.079 Hang on. 611 00:43:37.139 --> 00:43:37.679 No, that's wrong. 612 00:43:37.739 --> 00:43:38.639 I'm getting it wrong now. 613 00:43:40.260 --> 00:43:48.840 Repeats are an interesting thing because in my head, and I think I might have said in the back in the 1st episode talking about, and I was like, oh, yeah, I used to catch the repeats because they were always repeating it, weren't they? 614 00:43:48.900 --> 00:43:50.940 And actually, they didn't do that many, did they? 615 00:43:51.000 --> 00:43:53.639 I've only looked it up more recently on BBC Genome. 616 00:43:53.699 --> 00:43:59.280 But yeah, like you say, they said, this is a sort of, this with Aurek as a movie prelude to the, the start of the next season. 617 00:43:59.400 --> 00:44:10.559 And then I think it was only season 3 that got an almost complete repeat over the summer of June 81, running up to they showed 8 of the 13 episodes. 618 00:44:10.559 --> 00:44:20.280 And that's what I could remember seeing repeated because there's a thing that happens at the end of the last episode of series 3 that I remember very vividly having seen twice and being confused like, why is this happening again? 619 00:44:20.340 --> 00:44:22.800 I've already seen this. and then realising it was a repeat. 620 00:44:22.860 --> 00:44:35.579 Basically, I'm just, it's just a general observation, that just has a much stronger hold in the public consciousness than I would have expected for something that wasn't really being endlessly rerun at the weekends and stuff like that, which in my, in my head. 621 00:44:35.639 --> 00:44:37.199 I thought it had a bit more of that. 622 00:44:37.260 --> 00:44:38.639 It's interesting, isn't it? 623 00:44:38.699 --> 00:44:41.519 It doesn't get the repeats that Doctor Who gets each year. 624 00:44:41.579 --> 00:44:48.360 So I think one of the other episodes has touched on this Doctor Who gets 2 complete stories repeated in the summer. 625 00:44:48.420 --> 00:44:55.079 But Blake 7 generally is just on once, particularly in the case of season B. That's it. 626 00:44:55.139 --> 00:44:58.679 None of that is shown ever again by the BBC. 627 00:44:58.739 --> 00:44:59.699 That's really weird. 628 00:44:59.760 --> 00:45:00.539 Yeah, that's just... 629 00:45:00.539 --> 00:45:08.940 I find amusing listening to talking about 2 repeats. experience is completely... were spoiled. 630 00:45:09.000 --> 00:45:10.199 We were spoiled. 631 00:45:10.260 --> 00:45:18.000 They used to strip it Monday, Monday to Thursday or Monday to Friday. in the afternoons before the goodies. 632 00:45:18.059 --> 00:45:18.960 Wow. 633 00:45:19.019 --> 00:45:19.559 Yeah. 634 00:45:19.619 --> 00:45:22.920 See, this is what we used to dream of here in the UK. 635 00:45:22.980 --> 00:45:26.519 Oh, if I was in Australia, I could be watching Blake 7 right now. 636 00:45:26.940 --> 00:45:29.400 Oh, they didn't do that at Blake 7. 637 00:45:29.460 --> 00:45:30.360 Just told you who. 638 00:45:30.420 --> 00:45:30.960 Doctor Who. 639 00:45:31.019 --> 00:45:31.380 Okay. 640 00:45:31.440 --> 00:45:33.300 No, Blake 7 was repeated quite a lot. 641 00:45:33.360 --> 00:45:34.199 I believe. 642 00:45:34.260 --> 00:45:39.360 But this is why I've never seen it as well because it's just been kind of lack of opportunity, really, haven't you? 643 00:45:39.420 --> 00:45:40.920 A lot of people, I know, really rate it. 644 00:45:40.980 --> 00:45:43.019 I've just never, it's just never been on. 645 00:45:43.079 --> 00:45:45.780 I've had to, you know, kind of buy the DVD basically. 646 00:45:45.840 --> 00:45:48.480 Brick box, which is a recent development as well. 647 00:45:48.539 --> 00:45:53.940 But it's I've never seen it repeated on any of the sort of sky channels or BBC or anything like that. to tune in. 648 00:45:54.000 --> 00:45:55.920 Yeah, it had a run in the 90s, didn't it? 649 00:45:55.980 --> 00:46:01.199 I think on UK gold, but that was a couple of times, but not often. 650 00:46:01.260 --> 00:46:05.099 Yeah, and I guess it's always going to have Doctor Who sort of looming over it, isn't it? 651 00:46:05.159 --> 00:46:17.639 Where the TV guy when a TV executive sits down and says, well, let's put on something from the 70s, the 1st I'm talking in the 90s here, the 1st thing that they would get pressurised to do would be Doctor Who. 652 00:46:17.699 --> 00:46:21.420 And because there was so much demand to have that back on again. 653 00:46:21.480 --> 00:46:29.280 And I guess it maybe Blake 7 just suffered by being number 2 on the list of most requested 70s things to be repeated perhaps. 654 00:46:29.340 --> 00:46:34.980 The only thing I was going to say was, and don't tell me whether I'm right or not, is I was going to guess that Aurak is a virus. 655 00:46:35.039 --> 00:46:41.400 Well, probably is terrination, again, a space virus, not just virus, because that's kind of terrination trope, isn't it? 656 00:46:41.460 --> 00:46:42.659 But not one that I've seen yet. 657 00:46:43.260 --> 00:46:45.900 You could be right and you could be wrong. 658 00:46:46.019 --> 00:46:47.340 Interesting. 659 00:46:47.400 --> 00:46:49.139 But I'm not gonna tell you. 660 00:46:50.460 --> 00:46:52.380 You feel so, yeah. 661 00:46:52.440 --> 00:46:54.119 Yeah you'll find out next week. 662 00:47:01.739 --> 00:47:08.280 Well, that was deliverance, and I hope we've delivered well on our comments on this episode. 663 00:47:08.340 --> 00:47:14.639 Join us next week when we'll find out whether Aurak really is worth 1000000 credits. 664 00:47:14.699 --> 00:47:16.559 I've been psy. 665 00:47:16.800 --> 00:47:18.599 I was James. 666 00:47:18.659 --> 00:47:20.099 That was Mark. 667 00:47:20.159 --> 00:47:23.699 I've done my best to be Pete, and we hope you'll join us next week. 668 00:47:23.760 --> 00:47:25.500 Thanks very much, everyone. 669 00:47:25.559 --> 00:47:26.099 Bye. 670 00:47:26.159 --> 00:47:26.880 Bye bye. 671 00:47:26.940 --> 00:47:27.719 Ta-ra. 672 00:47:27.780 --> 00:47:28.139 Bye. 673 00:47:34.559 --> 00:47:36.780 Switching to manual. 674 00:47:36.840 --> 00:47:38.699 Maximum power on all drives. 675 00:47:41.820 --> 00:47:43.800 Maximal power.